Abstract: A shoe sole includes a footbed, a midsole, and an outsole. The footbed includes deformable semi-tubular elements that protrude downward and are received in corresponding trough-shaped cavities of the midsole, which provide cushioning when the semi-tubular elements are compressed under load, and also provide a spring return effect. The semi-tubular elements may have a depth greater than a depth of a corresponding trough shaped cavity whereby the footbed is held in a raised position above the top surface of the midsole. The separation between the footbed and the top surface of the midsole is smaller in forefoot area and greater in the heel area. The separation provides shock absorption and resilience in the shoe because it allows the semi-tubular elements to deform under load and absorb impact shocks.

Abstract: A manufacturing system includes a tape advancing through the manufacturing system and a station of the manufacturing system. The tape includes a first portion having grains of an inorganic material bound by an organic binder. The station of the manufacturing system receives the first portion of the tape and prepares the tape for sintering by chemically changing the organic binder and/or removing the organic binder from the first portion of the tape, leaving the grains of the inorganic material, to form a second portion of the tape and, at least in part, prepare the tape for sintering.

Abstract: An elastic strain sensor can be incorporated into an artificial skin that can sense flexing by the underlying support structure of the skin to detect and track motion of the support structure. The unidirectional elastic strain sensor can be formed by filling two or more channels in an elastic substrate material with a conductive liquid. At the ends of the channels, a loop port connects the channels to form a serpentine channel. The channels extend along the direction of strain and the loop portions have sufficiently large cross-sectional area in the direction transverse to the direction of strain that the sensor is unidirectional. The resistance is measured at the ends of the serpentine channel and can be used to determine the strain on the sensor. Additional channels can be added to increase the sensitivity of the sensor. The sensors can be stacked on top of each other to increase the sensitivity of the sensor.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for sorting items to a plurality of sort destinations. The items are fed into the apparatus at an input station having a scanning station. The scanning station evaluates one or more characteristics of each item. The items are then loaded onto one of a plurality of independently controlled delivery vehicles. The delivery vehicles are individually driven to sort destinations. Once at the appropriate sort destination, the delivery vehicle ejects the item to the sort destination and returns to receive another item to be delivered. A re-induction conveyor may be provided for receiving select items from the vehicles and conveying the items back to the input station for re-processing. Additionally, a controller is provided to control the movement of the vehicles based on a characteristic each item being delivered by each vehicle. The system may also include vehicles having edge-detection assemblies for detecting items being loaded onto or discharged from the vehicles.

Abstract: A manufacturing system includes a tape advancing through the manufacturing system and a station of the manufacturing system. The tape includes a first portion having grains of an inorganic material bound by an organic binder. The station of the manufacturing system receives the first portion of the tape and prepares the tape for sintering by chemically changing the organic binder and/or removing the organic binder from the first portion of the tape, leaving the grains of the inorganic material, to form a second portion of the tape and, at least in part, prepare the tape for sintering.

Abstract: A storage device and method of operation are provided to manage the latency quality of service of the storage device in order to increase the overall maximum drive throughput or bandwidth of the storage device. A drive of the storage device receives a request for latency quality of service status from a host, and provides the latency quality of service information to the host. The drive monitors the latency quality of service status of the storage device, and continues to provide latency quality of service status feedback to the host. The host may then dynamically adjust the data-queue depth limit based on the latency quality of service status feedback from the drive.

Abstract: A global architecture (GLP), as disclosed herein, is based on the thin server architectural pattern; it delivers all its services in the form of web services and there are no user interface components executed on the GLP. Each web service exposed by the GLP is stateless, which allows the GLP to be highly scalable. The GLP is further decomposed into components. Each component is a microservice, making the overall architecture fully decoupled. Each microservice has fail-over nodes and can scale up on demand. This means the GLP has no single point of failure, making the platform both highly scalable and available. The GLP architecture provides the capability to build and deploy a microservice instance for each course-recipient-user combination. Because each student interacts with their own microservice, this makes the GLP scale up to the limit of cloud resources available—i.e. near infinity.

Abstract: A global architecture (GLP), as disclosed herein, is based on the thin server architectural pattern; it delivers all its services in the form of web services and there are no user interface components executed on the GLP. Each web service exposed by the GLP is stateless, which allows the GLP to be highly scalable. The GLP is further decomposed into components. Each component is a microservice, making the overall architecture fully decoupled. Each microservice has fail-over nodes and can scale up on demand. This means the GLP has no single point of failure, making the platform both highly scalable and available. The GLP architecture provides the capability to build and deploy a microservice instance for each course-recipient-user combination. Because each student interacts with their own microservice, this makes the GLP scale up to the limit of cloud resources available—i.e. near infinity.

Abstract: A global architecture (GLP), as disclosed herein, is based on the thin server architectural pattern; it delivers all its services in the form of web services and there are no user interface components executed on the GLP. Each web service exposed by the GLP is stateless, which allows the GLP to be highly scalable. The GLP is further decomposed into components. Each component is a microservice, making the overall architecture fully decoupled. Each microservice has fail-over nodes and can scale up on demand. This means the GLP has no single point of failure, making the platform both highly scalable and available. The GLP architecture provides the capability to build and deploy a microservice instance for each course-recipient-user combination. Because each student interacts with their own microservice, this makes the GLP scale up to the limit of cloud resources available—i.e. near infinity.

Abstract: A global architecture (GLP), as disclosed herein, is based on the thin server architectural pattern; it delivers all its services in the form of web services and there are no user interface components executed on the GLP. Each web service exposed by the GLP is stateless, which allows the GLP to be highly scalable. The GLP is further decomposed into components. Each component is a microservice, making the overall architecture fully decoupled. Each microservice has fail-over nodes and can scale up on demand. This means the GLP has no single point of failure, making the platform both highly scalable and available. The GLP architecture provides the capability to build and deploy a microservice instance for each course-recipient-user combination. Because each student interacts with their own microservice, this makes the GLP scale up to the limit of cloud resources available—i.e. near infinity.

Abstract: A global architecture (GLP), as disclosed herein, is based on the thin server architectural pattern; it delivers all its services in the form of web services and there are no user interface components executed on the GLP. Each web service exposed by the GLP is stateless, which allows the GLP to be highly scalable. The GLP is further decomposed into components. Each component is a microservice, making the overall architecture fully decoupled. Each microservice has fail-over nodes and can scale up on demand. This means the GLP has no single point of failure, making the platform both highly scalable and available. The GLP architecture provides the capability to build and deploy a microservice instance for each course-recipient-user combination. Because each student interacts with their own microservice, this makes the GLP scale up to the limit of cloud resources available—i.e. near infinity.

Abstract: A global architecture (GLP), as disclosed herein, is based on the thin server architectural pattern; it delivers all its services in the form of web services and there are no user interface components executed on the GLP. Each web service exposed by the GLP is stateless, which allows the GLP to be highly scalable. The GLP is further decomposed into components. Each component is a microservice, making the overall architecture fully decoupled. Each microservice has fail-over nodes and can scale up on demand. This means the GLP has no single point of failure, making the platform both highly scalable and available. The GLP architecture provides the capability to build and deploy a microservice instance for each course-recipient-user combination. Because each student interacts with their own microservice, this makes the GLP scale up to the limit of cloud resources available—i.e. near infinity.

Abstract: A motor includes a number of individual electric coils arranged in the shape of a toroid around a ferromagnetic core, and configured so that, upon the application of electric current through the plurality of individual coils, the stator generates a rotating magnetic field within the ferromagnetic core. The motor also includes a magnetic rotor having a number of individual magnets positioned on the rotor such that adjacent magnets alternate in magnetic orientation, and are configured to direct magnetic flux lines through the stator. Further, the motor includes a controller configured for controlling the distribution of electric current to said plurality of individual electric coils. A generator may be similarly constructed, where the rotor is mechanically rotated to induce an electric current through the individual electric coils.

Abstract: A shoe sole includes a footbed, a midsole, and an outsole. The footbed includes deformable semi-tubular elements that protrude downward and are received in corresponding trough-shaped cavities of the midsole, which provide cushioning when the semi-tubular elements are compressed under load, and also provide a spring return effect. The semi-tubular elements may have a depth greater than a depth of a corresponding trough shaped cavity whereby the footbed is held in a raised position above the top surface of the midsole. The separation between the footbed and the top surface of the midsole is smaller in forefoot area and greater in the heel area. The separation provides shock absorption and resilience in the shoe because it allows the semi-tubular elements to deform under load and absorb impact shocks.

Abstract: A tangle free laundry bag is used to attach a piece of cloth inside for tangle free washing and/or drying. The tangle free laundry bag has one opening that allows a user to easily insert the laundry cloth to the bag interior. The bag includes two fasteners such as hook and loop fasteners mounted across the interior of the bag adjacent the opening. The fasteners are arranged in parallel to each other. A flap is extended from the back of the bag to cover the opening with a fastener such that the cloth is fully contained inside the bag and stays untangled during washing and/or drying. The tangle free laundry bag also offers multiple compartments in a single bag. This design allows the user to attach multiple clothes inside one tangle free laundry bag for washing and drying, during which the multiple clothes can stay secured inside the bag, thus, to avoid tangle. The tangle free laundry bag is made of heavy-duty mesh material and can be reused with a long service life.

Abstract: Electrolyte for a solid-state battery includes a body having grains of inorganic material sintered to one another, where the grains include lithium. The body is thin, has little porosity by volume, and has high ionic conductivity.

Abstract: A flywheel energy storage device includes the Halbach Motor/Generator with rolling biphasic coil control, continuously variable torque transfer via magnetic induction and a reluctance magnetic levitation system known as the Axial-Loading Magnetic Reluctance Device. Electric energy input turns the magnetically coupled rotors of the Halbach motor, and torque is transferred to a flywheel through a copper cylinder variably inserted between the Halbach magnet rotors. In idle mode, the energy is stored kinetically in the spinning flywheel, which is levitated by a permanent magnet bearing. Electric energy output is achieved by transferring torque from the flywheel through the copper cylinder to the rotors of the Halbach Generator by magnetic induction. Rolling biphasic motor control includes dividing Halbach motor coils into increments, then energizing groups of contiguous increments into virtual coils, which revolve in tandem with the magnet rotors so to achieve continuous and optimal torque.

Abstract: A compactor has a plunger housing with a door for insertion of waste. The plunger presses waste into a bag on a pallet within an enclosure with panels and a pair of panels in the form of doors at the rear. Side panels, are joined along their lower edges to a floor panel, the side panels supporting the end panels at vertical hinges. There is resilience due to the ability of the various panels to move, in which each side panel is cantilevered about the corner at which it is joined to the floor panel, and the end panels can rotate about the relevant vertical axis of the hinges. As the plunger presses axially to compact waste within a bag when the bag approaches being full.

Abstract: A system (100) and method to control rheology of ceramic pre-cursor batch during extrusion is described herein. An extrusion system (100) comprises an extruder (122) with an input port (144) configured to feed ceramic pre-cursor batch into a first section (120) of an extruder barrel and a discharge port configured to extrude a ceramic pre-cursor extrudate (172) out of the extruder barrel downstream of the input port (144). A liquid injector (210) is configured to inject liquid into the ceramic pre-cursor batch. A sensor (106) is configured to detect a rheology characteristic of the ceramic pre-cursor batch. A controller (108) is configured (i) to receive the rheology characteristic from the sensor (106), (ii) compare the rheology characteristic to a predetermined rheology value of the ceramic pre-cursor batch, and (iii) generate a command based on the comparison. A liquid regulator (110) is configured to receive the command and adjust liquid flow to the liquid injector (210) based on the command.

Abstract: According to embodiments, a batch mixture includes inorganic components, a non-polar carbon chain lubricant, and an organic surfactant having a polar head. The non-polar carbon chain lubricant and the organic surfactant are present in concentrations satisfying the relationship: B(C1(d+d0)+C2(f+f0))=SC, where: d0+d is an amount of non-polar carbon chain lubricant in percent by weight of the inorganic components, by super addition; f0+f is an amount of organic surfactant in percent by weight of the inorganic components, by super addition; B is a scaling factor; C1 is a scaling factor of the concentration of the non-polar carbon chain lubricant; and C2 is a scaling factor of the concentration of the organic surfactant. Embodiments provide that 3.6?SC?14.